Wednesday, 4 April 2012

Recycle plastic bags into a reusable bag!

I seem to have a never ending supply of carrier bags in my house. Every time I go shopping, I fully intend to bring my own carrier bags and nearly every single time, I forget! Then I end up bringing home yet another pile of them! I saw this idea a few years ago but it didn't really appeal to me at the time. I guess I've caught the crafty bug a lot more these days haha.

Do you want to know how to make one too? It didn't take anywhere near as long as I thought it would and used up a lot of bags that would've otherwise probably ended up as waste! And it's pretty cute aswell. Bonus.You will need: 8mm (or bigger if you have it) metal crochet hook, tons and tons of plastic bags, cut into 1/2" strips and looped together to make ''plarn''. There is a good tutorial for how to do that here.

Bag:1. ch3, join with slst in 1st ch to make a circle (it will be very tight but that's good)2. ch3, work 9dcs in circle, join with sl st to top of ch3 (10)3. ch3, turn, dc in same st, work 2dcs in each st around, join with slst in top of ch3 (20)4. ch3, turn, dc in same st, *work 1dc in next st, work 2dcs in next st* rep around, join with slst in top of ch3 (30)5. ch3, turn, dc in same st, *work 2dcs in next st, work 2dcs in next st* rep around, join with slst in top of ch3 (40)6. ch3, turn, dc in same st, *work 3dcs in next st, work 2dcs in next st* rep around, join with slst in top of ch3 (50)7-14. ch3, turn, sk st at base of ch3, dc around, join with sl st in top of ch3 (I worked the last 2 rounds in a different coloured plarn but this is optional)15. bind off and weave in ends

Handle:16. rejoin plarn a few stitches right of the seam (with back of stitches facing), ch3, sk st at base of ch3 then dc in next 3sts (4)17-29. ch1, turn, sk st at base of ch3, dc across (4)30. attach handle to opposite side of bag, making sure it's not twisted, bind off and weave in ends

Flower:31. ch3, join with slst in 1st ch to make a circle (it will be very tight but that's good)32. ch1, *sc in loop, ch4* rep x 6, join with sl st in 1st sc (6 loops)33. ch1, turn, work (sc, hdc, dc, dc, hdc, sc) in each loop around, join with sl st in 1st sc, bind off and weave in ends

I tied my flower onto the join of my handle since it looked quite obvious. I joined mine with single crochet stitch, so this step can be skipped if you just stitch it on as normal. I was getting tired though, so I went for the easy (and cute!) way out :P

Done!

I guess mine turned out a little strange looking since I wanted the handle to be short enough to hang it off my pushchair hook, without having the bottom scrape off the floor like most of my other bags do! If you wanted to use it as a proper shoulder bag, you'd just make the strap longer, or attach two straps - one on each side of the bag :)

Thank you for linking up this fabulous project...Can’t wait to see what you have been up to this week!! This weeks linky party is now up !! http://polkadot-pretties.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/you-inspire-linky-party_14.htmlClaire x

Now I have something to do with all those plastic bags! Great idea!I am visiting from the One Artsy Mama Craft Contest and wanted to stop by and say hi! I am a new follower! Hope you will stop by http://garagesalesrus.blogspot.com/and do the same.